The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart.
January 9, 2009 2:32 PM Subscribe
"And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.' But I'm pretty sure it says nothing about eating it when you're done.
Andre Thomas, woefully deficient in the nuances of didactic scriptural hyperbole, is awaiting the death penalty in Texas after a conviction for the 2004 murder of his family (via):
"Date: 3/2004
Location: Sherman, Grayson County, TX
Summary: Andre L. Thomas, 21, was accused in the March 26, 2004 stabbing deaths of his 4-year-old son, his 20-year-old estranged wife Laura Thomas and her 1-year-old daughter Leyha Hughes in Sherman, TX. All the victims' hearts were cut out; two were found at Thomas' house. He turned himself in and was charged with one count of capital murder. Prior History: According to Thomas's father, Thomas had gone to two hospital emergency rooms seeking help in the weeks before the killing, but either left or was released before he received treatment. Subsequent history: On April 2, 2004, Thomas was in the Grayson County jail cell when he tore his eye out of its socket with his hands, said Grayson County Sheriff Keith Gary. Thomas then quoted the verse Mark 9:47: "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.' Thomas was taken to a hospital and the eyeball was put on ice, but it could not be reattached. At Thomas' trial in March 2005 for Hughes' murder, a state-appointed doctor testified that Thomas suffers from schizophrenia. He said Thomas did not commit the killings under the influence of drugs. Thomas’ older brother Donald Ross also testified about his brother’s strange behavior leading up to the murders, including drug use, an obsession with the bible, and duct-taping his mouth shut, claiming God was testing him to see if he could go a day without talking. In June 2004, state District Judge James Fry had ordered Thomas committed to a state mental hospital because two psychologists found him incompetent to stand trial.
Source Of Information: The Associated Press, April 6, 2004; Sherman Herald Democrat, June 17, 2004; KXII-TV CBS 12, March 3, 2005."
Andre Thomas, woefully deficient in the nuances of didactic scriptural hyperbole, is awaiting the death penalty in Texas after a conviction for the 2004 murder of his family (via):
"Date: 3/2004
Location: Sherman, Grayson County, TX
Summary: Andre L. Thomas, 21, was accused in the March 26, 2004 stabbing deaths of his 4-year-old son, his 20-year-old estranged wife Laura Thomas and her 1-year-old daughter Leyha Hughes in Sherman, TX. All the victims' hearts were cut out; two were found at Thomas' house. He turned himself in and was charged with one count of capital murder. Prior History: According to Thomas's father, Thomas had gone to two hospital emergency rooms seeking help in the weeks before the killing, but either left or was released before he received treatment. Subsequent history: On April 2, 2004, Thomas was in the Grayson County jail cell when he tore his eye out of its socket with his hands, said Grayson County Sheriff Keith Gary. Thomas then quoted the verse Mark 9:47: "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.' Thomas was taken to a hospital and the eyeball was put on ice, but it could not be reattached. At Thomas' trial in March 2005 for Hughes' murder, a state-appointed doctor testified that Thomas suffers from schizophrenia. He said Thomas did not commit the killings under the influence of drugs. Thomas’ older brother Donald Ross also testified about his brother’s strange behavior leading up to the murders, including drug use, an obsession with the bible, and duct-taping his mouth shut, claiming God was testing him to see if he could go a day without talking. In June 2004, state District Judge James Fry had ordered Thomas committed to a state mental hospital because two psychologists found him incompetent to stand trial.
Source Of Information: The Associated Press, April 6, 2004; Sherman Herald Democrat, June 17, 2004; KXII-TV CBS 12, March 3, 2005."
This post was deleted for the following reason: this kind of oddball news of the weird. -- mathowie
It was the guard's fault. When he asked the guard what time was dinner, the guard replied, "Oh just keep an eye out for me."
Boy I'll bet he wishes now he'd said something different.
posted by Mike D at 2:40 PM on January 9, 2009
Boy I'll bet he wishes now he'd said something different.
posted by Mike D at 2:40 PM on January 9, 2009
Do you have any idea on a good post for metafilter? At all?
posted by boo_radley at 2:43 PM on January 9, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by boo_radley at 2:43 PM on January 9, 2009 [2 favorites]
Well since he's clearly insane, I guess we oughtn't execute him, right Texas? Right?
That's Texas. It's what makes Texas the place it is. It's what they do.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:43 PM on January 9, 2009
That's Texas. It's what makes Texas the place it is. It's what they do.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:43 PM on January 9, 2009
I bet he didn't see anything wrong with what he was doing.
posted by mullingitover at 2:43 PM on January 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by mullingitover at 2:43 PM on January 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
This is off topic, sorry, but that opening quote always makes me think of the freaky as Hell "Pluck 'em out!" finale of this film.
Lordy, Ray Milland made some crazy ass films.
posted by miss lynnster at 2:45 PM on January 9, 2009
Lordy, Ray Milland made some crazy ass films.
posted by miss lynnster at 2:45 PM on January 9, 2009
I'm a bit confused.... Am I supposed to make jokes about crazy people, jokes about murdering children, discuss something about eating eyes....
Someone clear this up for me...'cuz this is why I come to the Meta..
or, what the boo said...
posted by HuronBob at 2:45 PM on January 9, 2009
Someone clear this up for me...'cuz this is why I come to the Meta..
or, what the boo said...
posted by HuronBob at 2:45 PM on January 9, 2009
What if instead of my eye that causes me to sin, it is actually my fetus that causes me to sin? Is this passage saying that I should then pluck out my fetus because it would be better for me to enter the kingdom of God without a fetus than to have a fetus and be thrown into the fires of hell? Did I just find the abortion loophole in the Bible?
posted by flarbuse at 2:47 PM on January 9, 2009
posted by flarbuse at 2:47 PM on January 9, 2009
Upon reading the article? Ew.
But I'll bet this story would've made a great cinema vehicle for Ray Milland!
posted by miss lynnster at 2:49 PM on January 9, 2009
But I'll bet this story would've made a great cinema vehicle for Ray Milland!
posted by miss lynnster at 2:49 PM on January 9, 2009
Harelip!
posted by miss lynnster at 2:50 PM on January 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by miss lynnster at 2:50 PM on January 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
Damn.
posted by miss lynnster at 2:50 PM on January 9, 2009
posted by miss lynnster at 2:50 PM on January 9, 2009
That's just horrifying. Poor sad sick bastard.
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:51 PM on January 9, 2009
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:51 PM on January 9, 2009
I haven't had this much fun mocking crazy people since I was a kid.
posted by ORthey at 2:51 PM on January 9, 2009
posted by ORthey at 2:51 PM on January 9, 2009
This story was horrifying enough before I saw all the commenters at the Houston Chronicle clamoring for him to be "put down."
posted by teraflop at 2:56 PM on January 9, 2009
posted by teraflop at 2:56 PM on January 9, 2009
...drug use, an obsession with the bible, and duct-taping his mouth shut...
Yeah, that sounds like the Texas I grew up in.
Keep Austin weird!
posted by jnaps at 2:56 PM on January 9, 2009
Yeah, that sounds like the Texas I grew up in.
Keep Austin weird!
posted by jnaps at 2:56 PM on January 9, 2009
This is actually a fairly stupid post. A) It's gross and B) It would be a rational action for him to take if it gets him off Death Row.
posted by delmoi at 2:57 PM on January 9, 2009
posted by delmoi at 2:57 PM on January 9, 2009
If you think that dude is batshitinsane, raise your hand and say 'eye'!
posted by jamstigator at 3:03 PM on January 9, 2009
posted by jamstigator at 3:03 PM on January 9, 2009
It's interesting though that you all treat it as madness, and not mental illness..... There is a medieval feeling around here
posted by fcummins at 3:05 PM on January 9, 2009
posted by fcummins at 3:05 PM on January 9, 2009
It's interesting though that you all treat it as madness, and not mental illness...
I think "madness" actually conveys the proper level of severity of a mental illness so severe that you actually rip out and ingest your own eyeball.
posted by infinitywaltz at 3:14 PM on January 9, 2009
I think "madness" actually conveys the proper level of severity of a mental illness so severe that you actually rip out and ingest your own eyeball.
posted by infinitywaltz at 3:14 PM on January 9, 2009
OH JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.
This guy's clearly insane and beyond any punishment mere man can sentence him to. It's pure barbarism that he's on death row rather than getting what little care we may be able to provide.
Meanwhile, white woman Andrea Yates who killed her five kids, is in care. Susan Smith, a white woman, is up for parole in 2024.
But a black man with a history of plucking his eyes out, he's not in care, he's in a cage until we can strap him down and kill him like a dog.
He's in a cage because nominal followers of Jesus "turn the other cheek" Christ require vengeance-fueled blood sacrifices of the mentally ill, the retarded, and the poor.
posted by orthogonality at 3:23 PM on January 9, 2009 [7 favorites]
This guy's clearly insane and beyond any punishment mere man can sentence him to. It's pure barbarism that he's on death row rather than getting what little care we may be able to provide.
Meanwhile, white woman Andrea Yates who killed her five kids, is in care. Susan Smith, a white woman, is up for parole in 2024.
But a black man with a history of plucking his eyes out, he's not in care, he's in a cage until we can strap him down and kill him like a dog.
He's in a cage because nominal followers of Jesus "turn the other cheek" Christ require vengeance-fueled blood sacrifices of the mentally ill, the retarded, and the poor.
posted by orthogonality at 3:23 PM on January 9, 2009 [7 favorites]
Meanwhile, white woman Andrea Yates who killed her five kids, is in care. Susan Smith, a white woman, is up for parole in 2024.
I actually see the disparity in these two cases owing more to gender than to race, actually (not that racial inequities don't come into factor in legal matters - they obviously do). Because of society's inherent views of motherhood, it's simply unfathomable to a lot of folks that mothers would kill their own, so the laziest explanation is that they're simply "insane" which is pretty much bullshit.
posted by dhammond at 3:28 PM on January 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
I actually see the disparity in these two cases owing more to gender than to race, actually (not that racial inequities don't come into factor in legal matters - they obviously do). Because of society's inherent views of motherhood, it's simply unfathomable to a lot of folks that mothers would kill their own, so the laziest explanation is that they're simply "insane" which is pretty much bullshit.
posted by dhammond at 3:28 PM on January 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
dhammond writes "Because of society's inherent views of motherhood, it's simply unfathomable to a lot of folks that mothers would kill their own, so the laziest explanation is that they're simply 'insane' which is pretty much bullshit."
This is Texas. We could I suspect as accurately opine "Because of society's inherent views of "NEGROES", it's simply unfathomable to a lot of WHITE folks that BLACK MALES AREN'T MALEVOLENT DANGEROUS THREATENING THUGS, so the laziest explanation is that they're simply 'ANIMALS' which is pretty much bullshit."
posted by orthogonality at 3:36 PM on January 9, 2009
This is Texas. We could I suspect as accurately opine "Because of society's inherent views of "NEGROES", it's simply unfathomable to a lot of WHITE folks that BLACK MALES AREN'T MALEVOLENT DANGEROUS THREATENING THUGS, so the laziest explanation is that they're simply 'ANIMALS' which is pretty much bullshit."
posted by orthogonality at 3:36 PM on January 9, 2009
I actually was not referring to this case, but point taken (even if your painting of white folks in Texas is, ironically, way too broad).
posted by dhammond at 3:41 PM on January 9, 2009
posted by dhammond at 3:41 PM on January 9, 2009
Yeah, people should petition to take this poor, innocent, creature of gawd into their own homes so they can nurture him into the fine, caring, contributor to society that he has proven himself to be. He should have more heart for his soul. Or not.
posted by buzzman at 3:41 PM on January 9, 2009
posted by buzzman at 3:41 PM on January 9, 2009
He's in a cage because nominal followers of Jesus "turn the other cheek" Christ require vengeance-fueled blood sacrifices of the mentally ill, the retarded, and the poor.
But Jesus said they get into Heaven, so it's all OK.
posted by GuyZero at 3:42 PM on January 9, 2009
But Jesus said they get into Heaven, so it's all OK.
posted by GuyZero at 3:42 PM on January 9, 2009
Put this guy down, NOW.
I'm sure this was just a stunt to make him look "mentally ill" so his over-paid taxpayer funded lawyer can keep appealing to keep his sorry self alive.
Uh huh. Yup. I'm sure that's right. Yeah. For sure.
0_o
posted by Beautiful Screaming Lady at 3:44 PM on January 9, 2009
I'm sure this was just a stunt to make him look "mentally ill" so his over-paid taxpayer funded lawyer can keep appealing to keep his sorry self alive.
Uh huh. Yup. I'm sure that's right. Yeah. For sure.
0_o
posted by Beautiful Screaming Lady at 3:44 PM on January 9, 2009
flarbuse writes "Did I just find the abortion loophole in the Bible?"
Nice try, but there is no need for an abortion loophole. The Bible does not actually forbid abortion.
posted by mullingitover at 3:46 PM on January 9, 2009
Nice try, but there is no need for an abortion loophole. The Bible does not actually forbid abortion.
posted by mullingitover at 3:46 PM on January 9, 2009
... B) It would be a rational action for him to take if it gets him off Death Row.
Eh? Plucking one's own eye out to avoid being put to death takes being in some mental state, either incredibly determined, or incredibly unstable. I'm going with the latter, as he cut the hearts out of his family, and then stabbed himself in the chest. And he pulled his other eye out already.
I think the kind of "rational" you're looking for is well beyond this man.
Also, getting your fingers into your eye socket in order to pull your eye out seems like it would be really painful in itself. But I guess he had practice.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:47 PM on January 9, 2009
Eh? Plucking one's own eye out to avoid being put to death takes being in some mental state, either incredibly determined, or incredibly unstable. I'm going with the latter, as he cut the hearts out of his family, and then stabbed himself in the chest. And he pulled his other eye out already.
I think the kind of "rational" you're looking for is well beyond this man.
Also, getting your fingers into your eye socket in order to pull your eye out seems like it would be really painful in itself. But I guess he had practice.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:47 PM on January 9, 2009
What the fuck is the deal with all the heartless, corny, laugh at crazy/miserable/fucked up people posts we're having recently? I mostly never complain about what people post and maybe I'm suffering from confirmation bias, but it seems like there has been an uptick of farky sociopath asshole fratboy hah hah hah misery posts lately.
posted by Divine_Wino at 3:57 PM on January 9, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by Divine_Wino at 3:57 PM on January 9, 2009 [3 favorites]
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